Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Exposure and Effects Research at Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) Active
The Columbia Environmental Research Center’s Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) team conducts research focusing on the occurrence, fate, and toxicity of PFAS compounds in aquatic and terrestrial systems. Laboratory capabilities include dedicated analytical instrumentation and experimental facilities to allow USGS scientists to analyze a wide range of sample types including water, sediment, soils, and tissues. CERC partners with academic, state, federal, and private sector collaborators to conduct research laboratory studies and applied research at field sites across the Nation.
Background
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals with a carbon-fluorine backbone first synthesized in the late 1930’s. The chemical properties of PFAS include stain, oil, water, temperature, chemical and fire resistance. These properties make them key ingredients in countless commercial and industrial applications. Products containing PFAS include textiles, paper and food packaging, cosmetics, electronics, household goods and appliances, medical devices, pesticide formulations, and fire-fighting foams. The carbon-fluorine bond is also the strongest in nature resulting in PFAS also being resistant to environmental degradation and thus highly persistent. Thus, PFAS are frequently detected in all environmental media and biota world-wide.
Analytical Facility:
Team Leads: Erin Pulster and David Alvarez
CERC’s Environmental Chemistry Branch has field sampling expertise and dedicated laboratories and instrumentation for conducting PFAS research. These include specialized equipment for sample processing and a temperature-controlled laboratory consisting of a Xevo TQ Absolute Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (Figure 1) and a Quadrupole Time of Flight Synapt G2-Si mass spectrometer (Figure 2).
The TQ Absolute allows for significantly increased sensitivity for detecting PFAS. The team has developed field sampling methodology for a variety of sample types and is optimizing passive sampling tools (Figure 3) to provide information on the time-weighted average concentrations of PFAS over prolonged periods which are representative of an organism’s exposure. The analytical team have been able to extract and quantify up to 40 different PFAS in complex environmental matrices while achieving low limits of quantitation. The team has the expertise to modify methods for a wide variety of sample types. Typical samples include water, passive samplers, soils, sediments, biota, biofilms, and vegetation.
Team Leads: David Soucek, Jeffery Steevens, and David Walters
The Toxicology facility encompasses 4,300 square feet of exposure laboratory space consisting of 23 banks of large and small water baths with fully automated proportional diluters capable of delivering up to six different concentrations of chemicals in continuous flow-through conditions (Figure 4). Water supporting these studies comes from a deep well that has no PFAS contamination. Exposure systems have options to control temperature, pH and are equipped with ventilation for testing volatile chemicals (Figure 5A-B). These systems were built and optimized to meet the optimal conditions needed for each study. Studies are completed with aquatic invertebrates and fish through existing culture facilities.
Field Studies: Research teams conduct field studies across the Nation to support resource managers. Site specific studies are conducted to understand the fate and bioaccumulation processes in natural systems. These studies include field collection of invertebrate species to understand the movement of PFAS with food-webs and as a potential source of PFAS exposure to organisms such as birds and bats (Figure 6).
Current or Recent Projects:
Biological Effects:
- Research on effects of PFAS on species of conservation concern: bioaccumulation and toxicity in freshwater mussel species.
- Toxicological effects of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to inform aquatic criteria.
- Trophic transfer of PFAS in laboratory mesocosm studies and in the field. What is the role of biofilms and aquatic invertebrates in availability and movement in the food chain?
Environmental Transport and Distribution:
- Assessment of the occurrence, transport, and fate of wastewater contaminants of emerging concern at springs along the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
- Determining transport of PFAS from airfields and urban centers to the near-shore marine environment in Oahu, Hawai’i.
- Distribution and transport of PFAS in tributaries of the Great Lakes.
- Assessment of PFAS in surface and groundwaters near a fire training area at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Environmental Occurrence:
- Pilot study to evaluate anthropogenic contamination in Hinkson Creek in Missouri.
- A national Assessment of pesticide, PFAS, microplastics, and antibiotic resistant gene exposures in white-tailed deer.
- Pilot study evaluating PFAS levels in biosolids at remediation sites.
- Characterizing PFAS in fish and wildlife food webs.
Human Health Exposure:
- Assessing the need for PFAS related fish advisories in South Florida.
Partnering:
The USGS-CERC partners with academic, state, federal, tribal, and private sector partners to conduct basic and applied research. Opportunities exist to collaborate with USGS within the scope of the USGS Strategic Science Vision.
Method and Protocols in Development:
- Guide to per- and polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) sampling within Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration
- Development and optimization of methods for PFAS in water, sediment, soil, biosolids, tissues, and passive samplers
Return to: CERC Environmental Chemistry
Return to: CERC Fish and Invertebrate Toxicology
Southeast Region Fluorochemical Network (SERFN)
The Columbia Environmental Research Center’s Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) team conducts research focusing on the occurrence, fate, and toxicity of PFAS compounds in aquatic and terrestrial systems. Laboratory capabilities include dedicated analytical instrumentation and experimental facilities to allow USGS scientists to analyze a wide range of sample types including water, sediment, soils, and tissues. CERC partners with academic, state, federal, and private sector collaborators to conduct research laboratory studies and applied research at field sites across the Nation.
Background
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals with a carbon-fluorine backbone first synthesized in the late 1930’s. The chemical properties of PFAS include stain, oil, water, temperature, chemical and fire resistance. These properties make them key ingredients in countless commercial and industrial applications. Products containing PFAS include textiles, paper and food packaging, cosmetics, electronics, household goods and appliances, medical devices, pesticide formulations, and fire-fighting foams. The carbon-fluorine bond is also the strongest in nature resulting in PFAS also being resistant to environmental degradation and thus highly persistent. Thus, PFAS are frequently detected in all environmental media and biota world-wide.
Analytical Facility:
Team Leads: Erin Pulster and David Alvarez
CERC’s Environmental Chemistry Branch has field sampling expertise and dedicated laboratories and instrumentation for conducting PFAS research. These include specialized equipment for sample processing and a temperature-controlled laboratory consisting of a Xevo TQ Absolute Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (Figure 1) and a Quadrupole Time of Flight Synapt G2-Si mass spectrometer (Figure 2).
The TQ Absolute allows for significantly increased sensitivity for detecting PFAS. The team has developed field sampling methodology for a variety of sample types and is optimizing passive sampling tools (Figure 3) to provide information on the time-weighted average concentrations of PFAS over prolonged periods which are representative of an organism’s exposure. The analytical team have been able to extract and quantify up to 40 different PFAS in complex environmental matrices while achieving low limits of quantitation. The team has the expertise to modify methods for a wide variety of sample types. Typical samples include water, passive samplers, soils, sediments, biota, biofilms, and vegetation.
Team Leads: David Soucek, Jeffery Steevens, and David Walters
The Toxicology facility encompasses 4,300 square feet of exposure laboratory space consisting of 23 banks of large and small water baths with fully automated proportional diluters capable of delivering up to six different concentrations of chemicals in continuous flow-through conditions (Figure 4). Water supporting these studies comes from a deep well that has no PFAS contamination. Exposure systems have options to control temperature, pH and are equipped with ventilation for testing volatile chemicals (Figure 5A-B). These systems were built and optimized to meet the optimal conditions needed for each study. Studies are completed with aquatic invertebrates and fish through existing culture facilities.
Field Studies: Research teams conduct field studies across the Nation to support resource managers. Site specific studies are conducted to understand the fate and bioaccumulation processes in natural systems. These studies include field collection of invertebrate species to understand the movement of PFAS with food-webs and as a potential source of PFAS exposure to organisms such as birds and bats (Figure 6).
Current or Recent Projects:
Biological Effects:
- Research on effects of PFAS on species of conservation concern: bioaccumulation and toxicity in freshwater mussel species.
- Toxicological effects of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to inform aquatic criteria.
- Trophic transfer of PFAS in laboratory mesocosm studies and in the field. What is the role of biofilms and aquatic invertebrates in availability and movement in the food chain?
Environmental Transport and Distribution:
- Assessment of the occurrence, transport, and fate of wastewater contaminants of emerging concern at springs along the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
- Determining transport of PFAS from airfields and urban centers to the near-shore marine environment in Oahu, Hawai’i.
- Distribution and transport of PFAS in tributaries of the Great Lakes.
- Assessment of PFAS in surface and groundwaters near a fire training area at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Environmental Occurrence:
- Pilot study to evaluate anthropogenic contamination in Hinkson Creek in Missouri.
- A national Assessment of pesticide, PFAS, microplastics, and antibiotic resistant gene exposures in white-tailed deer.
- Pilot study evaluating PFAS levels in biosolids at remediation sites.
- Characterizing PFAS in fish and wildlife food webs.
Human Health Exposure:
- Assessing the need for PFAS related fish advisories in South Florida.
Partnering:
The USGS-CERC partners with academic, state, federal, tribal, and private sector partners to conduct basic and applied research. Opportunities exist to collaborate with USGS within the scope of the USGS Strategic Science Vision.
Method and Protocols in Development:
- Guide to per- and polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) sampling within Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration
- Development and optimization of methods for PFAS in water, sediment, soil, biosolids, tissues, and passive samplers
Return to: CERC Environmental Chemistry
Return to: CERC Fish and Invertebrate Toxicology